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Welcome to MegaCon 2012! We’re absolutely impressed with the tremendous growth since last year’s Convention; Not only did it seem we had more room to play at the Orange County Convention Center here in Orlando, Florida, but the guest list was swollen with more than plenty of the entertainment industry’s hottest talents! Three days of this Convention were simply not enough to absorb the action going on under this roof!

MegaCon is well established as the largest comic book, anime, sci-fi and fantasy convention in the South East of the United States. This annual event is recommended for EVERYONE. This year’s MegaCon was extraordinary and definitely not worth missing.

Vendors flourished across the floor with amazing collectibles and trademark iconic items with, as cliché as it sounds, ‘something for everybody’! From rare key comic books, memorabilia, and clothing to imported candy, anime, and costume props.

MegaCon always has had a great lineup of floor actors, artists and writers, but this year seemed to host plenty more than the previous year, which made great for attendees to interact with their favorite talents and creators. The enormous list included world-renowned writers and artists such as David Finch and J. Scott Campbell, growing stars like Lauren Cohan (Walking Dead), as well as up-and-coming writer Ryan Sohmers (Gutters) and local superhero squad Fierce Comics!

Deep within the penciled jungles of the artist alley, you could find yourself falling in love with original content from artists of anime, industry leading comic art, independent creators, or just general real life tributes of beautiful people.

The panels set up at MegaCon were very central themed and amazing. One of our favorites was ‘DC Comics: The New 52’, in which DC’s Co-Publisher Dan Didio led a discussion on the new changes which brought DC Comics to the head of the industry last year! Other attending panelists included Greg Capullo, Tony Bedard, and Jimmy Palmiotti. During the finale, fans rushed the stage to shake hands and share words with the guests! Coincidentally just outside the room, a DC Comics themed photoshoot was happening in which Dan Didio joined fellow DC veteran George Perez.

Another favorite panel was the ‘Q & A with Legendary Stan Lee’. Jimmy Palmiotti joined Stan Lee at his request in assisting with moderating, even though Stan “The Man” could handle it well all by himself! The room was very quiet for most of the time while Stan spoke with answers from his heart. His jokes broke the silence many times to ease the tension of everyone hanging on to his words. Stan recently launched his official website which has constant updates: The Real Stan Lee.

And what about the people? Many attendees dressed up in costume play (“cosplay”) to pay homage to their favorite characters and share their joy and passion in a walking visual display. You can’t help but smile and ask for someone to take a picture with you, to later share with your family and friends on what an awesome event this was!

As we said before if you weren’t here, you simply MISSED OUT… but we’ve got you covered!

Our very special thanks go to:
-ALL the supporting staff at MegaCon for putting together incredible event.
-Coliseum of Comics for a lunch opportunity with DC Comics’ Dan Didio.
-POW! Entertainment for always providing us best spots for Stan Lee events.
-iAM 3D Group for front row seats at their booth for creator signings.

This is an updated continuation and conclusion to a previous post we reported to you (click). What we didn’t report last week (beyond Mike’s passing) was revealed by his mother: While Triforce Mike was held on life support, his family was advised he would make the perfect candidate to be an organ donor. A variety of surgeons were flown in to to spread his loving insides. Thanks to a powerful selfless decision by his family on his behalf, Mike’s heart, lungs, liver, and other vital organs were donated and have now helped give hope and new life to patients near their own deaths. Very incredible and great news!

Furthermore, last week a memorial was held at A Comic Shop in regards to the passing of our dear friend and fellow geek, Mike ‘Triforce Mike’ Pandel.

Overnight flowers were left at his employer’s front door in a makeshift Steve Jobs style to be discovered next day by the staff. This was a great way to start the very first day of life without Mike. As the day went on, more items began to be added to the flowers and we’re positive there’s alot more items there now!

Mike’s personal belongings and treasures were placed in a section of the Geek Easy for viewing and admiring. Its amazing how iconic garments, effects, and accessories can identify you so clearly and make you stand out even when your body isn’t present! Mike was well known for his red Converse sneakers as you’ll see his influence in another photo below.

An open mic session was held for friends, fans, and family members of Triforce Mike, with the keynote stories being delivered by his Pony sisters, Ninja Turtle girlfriends and, best of all, his heavy hearted Triforce mom. We learned that Mike’s bicycle was given by his mother as a hand-me-down, which also means there are literally thousands of miles on the bike frame! Mike’s mom also reassured the teary eyed crowd that he passed away doing something he loved. Alot of Mike’s confidence and aura radiated from his mother, and we all felt from her the same essence that Mike gave off.

The staff at A Comic Shop, a close-knit family, soon saw themselves put into leadership roles in lieu of the situation. They rose up to the challenge of peer counseling and healing. Countless hugs were issued. Many shirt sleeves were soaked. But with every sniffle and sob came a hopeful, relieving smile because we know Mike is in a better place and would never want us sad or upset of his presence. We commend our friends at A Comic Shop for being the frontrunners of this challenging road to recovery and healing. Thank you for being there for us!

Many, many, many supporters came out to show insane, gratuitous amounts of love. A few attendees even appeared to be dressed in Triforce Mike’s traditional dress code; for those of you who don’t know what that is: black t-shirt, blue jeans, and red Converse sneakers. I lost count after seeing so many red shoes, but it felt good to know that almost everyone admired Triforce Mike as a fashionable expert!

In the aftermath, I’m left feeling uncomfortably vulnerable. I would have never thought that I would meet someone so fun to be around, and so soon after God would ask them, young and healthy, to come home early. Everyone strives to be remembered in the massive doses of joy that Mike has been to us.

Life is short.
Don’t ever stop loving it.
And don’t you dare stop having fun.

These images paint a great picture of a guy who could never be “summed up”. Its never easy to say goodbye – especially when knowing its for the final time. Born as Michael Pandel, our friend Triforce Mike (Nerdy Show / A Comic Shop) was fatally injured by a vehicle while routinely traveling on his bicycle.

(video below)

As the key co-star personality of literally hundreds of podcasts and YouTube videos, Mike is in his own class of Internet celebrity, although his humbleness would cause him to disagree. Fun. Optimistic. Dope. Supportive. Inspiring. Free. Genuine. These are just a few words that friends are using to describe a true diamond in the rough.

We’ve provided a summary of what Triforce Mike’s forum and Facebook friends and fans are saying:

Mike was the kind of person you couldn’t help but love immediately. He was a force of nature, a hurricane composed of boney hugs and nipple pinches. When they made him, they broke the mold and hid the pieces across the land: there will never be another like Mike. It didn’t take much for him to have an impact on you. Mike had a lust for life – he enjoyed the heck out of it and (one way or another) made sure those he met did too. He’s known as one of the warmest, friendliest, funniest, and liveliest people you would ever be privileged to call a friend. Always the life of the party; always rambling on about stuff; ALWAYS entertaining. Super passionate about comic books, classic games, Pokémon and My Little Pony. Some of his antics are legend and will be told for centuries to come.

Triforce Mike also taught how to open up and be comfortable in your own skin. It is always really refreshing to meet someone like Mike; he touched a lot of people, and left a lasting impression on everyone he met. Many of us owe our fandom and discovery of many things to Mike, and we will never see any of them the same again. We will listen to no Protomen songs, collect no rupees, use no warp whistles, read no Robo without it being, in our own little way, for Triforce Mike.

Our thoughts and best wishes go out to all Nerdy Show friends, Mike’s friends, the A Comic Shop crew, and of course his family. He will live in our heartpieces – may he dance forever in them.

Winter in Florida is far shy of a scene from ‘A Christmas Carol’. We’re basking in 80-degree warm sun shi- wait a minute, I’ve written this before. Holiday Matsuri was a new multi-genre convention (“con”) with a deep holiday theme. Cosplayers and fans generated to celebrate their anime, video game, sci-fi favorites amongst each other. The event spanned over a 3-day streak which included celebrity guests, local and traveling artists, costume & cosplay contests, parties, and vendors of the aforementioned genres.

From the pictures above, you can see the event had plenty of hall space and many rooms open for specific scheduled events such as the main ballroom/dance hall, a gaming room dedicated entirely for video games, an open marketplace for imported and rare goods, and a traditional artist alley for amazing one-of-a-kind pieces of handmade materials, arts, and crafts. Personally I’m still kicking myself for not picking up an awesome pair of homemade Domo earrings (look at the amazing detail in the last photo)!

Holiday Matsuri also threw a massive dance ball in which they accepted toy donations for admission to the event. The collection of unwrapped toys they received will be delivered to the Toys For Tots Foundation founded and ran by the United States Marine Corps whom shall distribute the gifts to the less fortunate. Holiday Matsuri was held at the DoubleTree Hotel across from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. The event attracted many new faces to join in the festivities of what may be the last major Con of Central Florida in 2011. With a few days left until Christmas, on behalf all of our support staff and sponsors, we’d like to wish our friends and fans Happy Holidays!

Our latest convention stop was at New York Comic Con, addressed as the East Coast’s biggest pop culture con, located at the Jacob Javits Center. The venue itself was a perfect fit with the multi-level wide-open floors easily accommodating the swarming troops of fans attending to see their favorite talents in the industries of comics, anime, video games, toys, movies, and television.

There were many things on our “To-Do” list, but most importantly we had to pay homage to our present comic legends who introduced many heroes into our childhood and engraved the same heroic morals into us. Once again we had a small private session with Stan Lee (top photo) in which he discussed the legacy he never knew would affect so many of us. We also ran into Joe Simon (bottom), creator of Captain America, one of the world’s most iconic characters. More incredible than that – Joe celebrated his 98th birthday this week! We thanked him for his contribution to not only comics but history itself, however Mr. Simon was humble to share the credit with his family, friends and fans.

Speaking of heroes, during one of the many signings at The Avengers stage in the Marvel Booth, Stan Lee stood up and declared who the REAL heroes of America are: our supporting troops who keep this beautiful country safe! Heroes don’t wear capes, they wear dog tags.

DC Comics brought the guns to the table in the last few weeks after unveiling their ‘New 52′, a modern reset of fifty-two classic comic series, reintroducing new readers to DC’s character lineup such as Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, etc. At the head of the attack, DC Comics’ Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns (top) has been keeping VERY busy writing away some of the company’s most awe-inspiring stories including a new Aquaman series that doesn’t make him seem so useless. Artist Jim Lee (middle), also co-Publisher at DC, sat firmly next to Geoff during a signing session where fans waited many hours to see the duo. Not everyone is happy with DC Comics’ New 52 series (bottom photo), in which hardcore old-school fans feel the classics should have remained untouched.

Back to the other rival, Marvel Comics’ own Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada (top photo) spoke very confidently with the new upcoming projects Marvel is steadily unveiling in their other media groups expanding beyond comic books. We also ran into Axel Alonso (bottom), Editor-in-Chief at Marvel. He was very gracious in being able to share his valuable time and trade secrets with us in how to convert from one industry to another… Thank you, Axel!

Last week on the Theory Blog, and pretty much everywhere on the net, The Avengers’ new trailer made its explosive debut across many of your computer screens. Marvel continued to promote The Avengers with movie and celebrity guest appearances by Chris Evans/Captain America (pictured above), Clark Gregg/Agent Coulson, and Cobie Smulders/Maria Hill. However, all eyes and questions at the panel were on Tom Hiddleston/Loki, who seems to be the movie antagonist. Mark Ruffalo/Hulk also made a secret unannounced guest appearance.

Another big announcement was the trailer and release for the 2nd season of The Walking Dead television series. Robert Kirkman (above) was more than happy to pose for photos but we did wait more than two hours in line to have items signed by him. Robert Kirkman is the creator of The Walking Dead comic series, as well as MANY other ongoing endeavors at Image Comics.

Mike Foss of Fierce Comics holds proudly an issue of The Maniacal Smile. He’s a local talent here in Florida that we met out in New York along with Ben Filipiak (not pictured) who’s also writing a book we’re interested in. Keep up the good work!

Didn’t think you’d see cars in this post, right? Chevrolet donated several vehicles to companies across the convention. Tokidoki (top photo) had a beautiful layout imprinted on key structural surfaces while The Goon (center) took advantage of the whole automobile in an all-out piece. An artist (bottom) draws feverishly on his own design with permanent marker – luckily he has more talent than most of us.

Demonstrations and hands-on experiences were a big part of the convention. Microsoft Xbox, Capcom, RockStar Games, and many others had their own arcade station layouts but one of our favorite setups was the dance stages for ‘The Black Eyed Peas Experience’ (top) in which attendees had a chance to get on stage and show off their mad skills! The Artist Alley was littered with famous stars and upcoming talent. Even though the industry standard is in digital media (middle), there’s nothing more classic and appealing then an artist drawing with pen and paper (bottom).

Although artists were selling sketches and prints from their personal collection, the vast marketplace throughout the convention provided plenty of shopping variety, including but not limited to old and new anime, videos games, television shows, etc. Many high-priced items were open to negotiation, wholesale pricing, and even customization.

And what about the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of the convention, the fans and attendees? They’re happy as ever! Cosplay participation isn’t as high as Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA, but it certainly was great to see a few good classics like Cammy from Street Fighter (top) and a female variation of Captain America (below).

New York Comic Con boasted over 96,000 attendees last year, making it the 2nd largest comic book and pop culture gathering in the country – with number one being San Diego Comic Con, that’s pretty impressive! Its also been ranked the second largest event in New York City. So how does that look in pictures? Check out the army in the images below!

We’ve brought back with us new contacts and friendships, countless memories, and a nice collection of photos from some of your favorite hottest talents. Most importantly, our personal thank you and bottomless appreciation for the accommodations go to: ALL STAFF AND SUPPORTING PERSONNEL at the New York Comic Con; Max A. & Yuko K. from Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment; Judy S., Nicole C., Joe Quesada and Axel Alonso from Marvel.Com; Tonya, Sharon R. & Chandler R. from Desert Wind Comics.

During the Labor Day weekend, downtown Atlanta becomes the host to hordes and scores of raging die-hard fans, geeks, and other assorted sexy nerds for its hometown convention, Dragon*Con. After our successful event coverage of big and crowded MegaCon (Orlando, FL) and other recent multi-media related entries, we were told that we HAVE TO attend Dragon*Con as if our lives depended on it. Being no stranger to serving recommendations, we ventured out to the City of Atlanta. Dragon*Con was held between five top-notch facilities; The Hilton, Hyatt, Mariott, Sheraton, and Westin – hotels with peak customer care and security to keep us feeling safe and welcome. The helpful staff were around every corner and provided excellent guidance and resourceful information for when we got lost in transit between hotels and events. Even though the event lasted from Friday, September 2nd, until Monday, September 5th, there was absolutely no way to reach everything the event had to offer!

Amongst the incredibly vast number of popular entertainment media writers, artists, actors, and guests, another key part of this as well as any other convention is the attendees dressed in cosplay (costume play). We were told that Dragon*Con has the biggest cosplay attendance of the South-East region and this was no exaggeration. Even though our extended knowledge of several media genres served us well when asking for photos, we met a few new ones we had yet to encounter as well as a variety of new characters that have just recently emerged in media such as Spider-Man from the new Future Foundation group (the replacement of Johnny Storm from Fantastic Four). We’re probably giving a low estimate but its safe to say nearly 40% of attendees were in character related costume – and Dragon*Con verifies that it hosts over 40,000 guests during the event… DO THE MATH!

As this was Dragon*Con’s 25th Anniversary, and this being our first time attending, we were in for many surprises such as a guest appearance by Stan Lee. We were also extremely fortunate to be able to bring back close-up coverage of Stan’s public appearances thanks to his support staff and agents. Shortly after, our resident photographer was attending a Marvel Comics photoshoot when Stan’s support staff appeared and asked if they can bring Stan Lee down to join the photoshoot! With the connecting request followed through thanks to the Superhero Costuming Forum’s founders and Marvel.Com’s own resident photographer, the surprise of a lifetime unraveled itself before many eyes as well as our own. It was an honor for myself, as a representative of V2Lab, to be approached and asked to help lead and assist the second unplanned photoshoot with Marvel Universe cosplayers and Stan Lee. Shortly after the second Marvel Universe photoshoot with Stan Lee, we received another astonishing visit from legendary comic book artist George Perez! We took a few shots of the brief reunion with the two real life heroes before we got ready for our next exciting adventure: a private meet and greet with Stan Lee.

We’ve brought back with us new contacts and friendships, countless memories, and a nice collection of photos from some of your favorite hottest talents and cosplays. There’s also a special treat coming very shortly after this post – exclusive video from Dragon*Con reflecting our travels and destinations and maybe a few other goodies coming right after. Most importantly, our personal thank you and bottomless appreciation for the several hours with Stan Lee go to: Max A. & Yuko K. from Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment; Judy S. from Marvel.Com; Adam & Allen from The Superhero Costuming Forum; Tonya, Sharon R. & Chandler R. from Desert Wind Comics.

Dragon*Con will now be on our list of yearly events to hit up! Check out our gallery (click) for this event to see what we’ve been excited about!

Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are no strangers to giving people what they want. After beyond major success with the screen writing and producing of movies like Crank, Gamer, and sequel Crank: High Voltage, it was time to go big. If you never saw the ‘previous’ Ghost Rider film you’ll be okay to know that you’re not missing out on much unless you hate Nicholas Cage and would enjoy seeing him set on fire. Although the good news is A-list movie star Nicholas Cage will be reprising his old role as the cursed Johnny Blaze, we’re sad to see beyond beautiful Eva Mendes will not be in the movie as its 2007 predecessor. The film is set for a release of February 17, 2012 and without further delay I present to you Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

This month, we got an amazing visit here in the United States from legendary artists Will Conrad and Mike Deodato Jr.! These two wonderful gentlemen hail all the way from Brazil via the house of talent at Glass House Graphics. Those attendees lucky enough to make it out to San Diego Comic Con caught the first glimpse of their art during the beginning of their tour as they made their way across the nation to visit other conventions and book stores. Their latest stop landed them here in Orlando, Florida in which they visited several stores throughout the week. Coliseum of Comics was once again kind enough to open three of their locations to accommodate fans to travel less and still have the artists sign books and draw sketches of their favorite heroes and villains. Throughout the session, Will and Mike teased each other while showing off their accomplishments that fans brought before them in the form of recent and older comic books, sketch pads, and much more.

Our local paint, spray and culturally hip hop education center, Graffiti Iconz, had an awesome gathering in the evening planned with live entertainment. Attendees were able to listen to the sonic funk of great up-and-coming musicians while being in the company of local artists laying down their hand-drawn and stencil art! Although the cast of who was there is lengthy, we did take special note of PIXEL PIECES by Desaree Gabriel which brought back beautiful memories from our original 8-bit video game heritage; also another highlight we personally enjoyed was musician Justin “SKIP” Skipper, of B-Side Artists, whom you could have easily mistaken as Zack de la Rocha from Rage Against the Machine with his smooth flow and charismatic action on the floor that effortlessly kept the crowd moving. Special thanks from Versiontwo Laboratory are due to all artists who participated in drawing with chalk on our demo vehicle, especially artist Jaime Margary who fractured minds with his visually appealing chicken next to a cracked egg!

Today marks the beginning of not only a new era for Marvel Comics, but what is being hailed as the “Story of the Decade” in the Amazing Spider-Man’s comic book lifespan. This new saga written by Dan Slott provides a very 60′s superhero theme when the main character is leveled completely as those surrounding the hero; more specifically, Spider-Man is faced with a spreading pandemic in which citizens of New York City now have spider powers! Unfortunately for Spidey, this not only includes his allied heroes but some of his worst foes as well!

In fan appreciation of this new saga commencing, respectively dubbed as “Spider-Island”, Marvel Comics provided a promotion earlier in the month where retailers were able to provide photos of their shop to be plastered on the cover of the Spider-Island Prelude, Issue #666. To qualify for this memorable and dedicating issue, retailers were to have met a strong sales prerequisite as well as other high end obligations. We are proud to be a part of this photoshoot at Coliseum of Comics (Millenia location) in Orlando, Florida, that will forever be engraved in Marvel Comics’ Amazing Spider-Man history!

In the last few days, we’ve witnessed a lot of Marvel goodness leaking throughout the Internet. Like all good fans do, they tried their best to capitalize on attention by creating their own versions and mixups but they eventually don’t satisfy like the original content. Thanks to ultra tactical espionage equipment (aka cellphone technology), these previously secretive unreleased goods are verified media support packages for the upcoming ‘The Avengers’ movie. The leaked video trailer showcases an opening of Captain America approached by Nick Fury regarding a mission in the current timeline, which can possibly be the ending of the yet to be released Captain America movie (releasing this Friday, July 22). The leaked poster represents a group photo consisting of heroes (from left) Hawkeye, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, and Iron Man.

‘The Avengers’ is set to release on May 4th, 2012. Who’s going to watch ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ this weekend?!

Earlier this month, we had a chance to visit several book stores for FBCD2011. We told you early on about the event, so he’s a recap: ‘Free Comic Book Day’ is the most joyous single day event for hobbyists and enthusiasts of the visual arts. Crowds of fans and curious spectators journeyed to their local news stands and comic book retailers to grab their stash of FREE comics. This year marked the 10th anniversary of which writers and artists got together and showed their appreciation to the day by providing great colored materials and donations to support groups abolishing illiteracy.

More specifically, we headed out to ‘Coliseum of Comics’ (Millenia), ‘A Comic Shop’, and ‘Heroes Landing’. Our key moment, and goal of the day, was to catch famous badass writer Victor “Victorious” Gischler – he was kind enough to hold up our makeshift v2lab sign up above